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Pilot Seiren is a 100% 3D Printed Titanium Road Bike

Pilot Seiren 3d printed titanium bike
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Are fully 3D-printed bike frames the next big thing in titanium? It’s quite possible based on what we saw today at the Pilot Cycles booth at Eurobike. The Eindhoven-based company has been creating custom titanium bikes for 10 years now, but the Seiren looks to take it to the next level (and then some).

It was hard to avoid the Seiren’s call walking past, but it wasn’t the 3D-printed aspect that caught my eye. It was the relatively-unique seat mast. But looking closer, it was suddenly clear that this was no average titanium bike. Not even a slick titanium bike with 3D-printed lugs. This bike is 100% 3D-printed from powdered titanium.

Now, it’s not printed all in one piece. Instead, it’s printed in three parts and then bonded together with a specially developed “metal glue for titanium.” We were told that the total printing time was just 8 hours on (what we assume is a very large) SLM (Selective Laser Melting) printer. That number is kind of staggering considering many 3D printers take just as long if not longer, just to create small parts out of plastic. Even if that number is 8 hours for each of the three frame parts, that’s still very quick to create a completely custom titanium bike.

Not only is this a fast way to create a custom bike, but there is very little waste from production since the excess titanium powder can be reused. Pilot also claims the frames are 100% recyclable.

On display at the show was one of the first prototypes, which is already being improved upon. The version on display is claimed to be about 1,150g for a 57cm frame, while the next version they’re working on is expected to be around 1050g for the same size.

When asked about the seat mast design, the answer was surprising – the configuration was chosen to aid in frame alignment more than rider comfort.


The frame uses a standard threaded bottom bracket with printed threads. Pilot notes that all of the threaded holes do have to be chased after printing. The frame itself was shown as a raw sandblasted titanium, though they’re looking into methods of polishing the titanium as well. Behind the door on the bottom bracket is another 3D-printed part inside to hold a Shimano Di2 battery.

The Seiren will first be completed as a stock design, but the goal is to offer complete customization from frame geometry to frame details. We’re hoping to get details on potential pricing and availability soon.

pilotcycles.com

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User
1 year ago

I mean, not even a little nod to the Trek Madone?

Jaap
Jaap
1 year ago
Reply to  User

I don’t see it.

Brad
Brad
1 month ago
Reply to  User

Yea looking at especially that seat tube where it meets the seat post, and after 1 second of getting a halfway glimpse of it I’m immediately thinking this part of the frame at least is looking so much like the Madone. If it isn’t intentionally designed to resemble that part of the newest Madone, then in my opinion it seems it was subconsciously based on the Madone’s geometry and tube shape for that part of the bike. It looks to close to the shaping of the Madone’s design right there on the bike to be simply an unconconcious coincidence for my thinking.
I know if I bought 1 it would worry me when the frame is “glued” together at 3 different points with, a new one for me “glue for titanium”, and in the 1 pic it appears to be “glued” together in the middle of quite possibly the top tube. That idea really concerned me because in the middle of the top, down, and seat tube is where the most stress from leverage is applied to the tube of the frame which is one reason welds on a steel or titanium handwelded frame are at the junctions of the tube of the frame. This would definitely be a considerable and incessant, constant worry for me due to my weight at 210lbs, and given the fact that I ride on sidewalks if given the opportunity after being hit multiple times by cars and in 2012 I was hit by a Ford F250 and ended up being knocked unconscious before sliding up the hood, onto the windshield, then slid off the passenger side of the cab’s roof and flipped upside down in the air I was told before landing on the back of my neck just below my skull on the parking lot asphalt, after being hit by the full-size Ford F250 truck driver speeding out of the parking lot at 35mph when he hit me as I was riding across the street in front of the convenience store parking lot. When I regained consciousness i realized that I was tied down to a full size 1inch thick sheet of plywood because they thought if I wasn’t already paralyzed that I very likely would be if I moved any part of my body evn the slightest bit. The reason the driver of the Ford F250 gave the police for speeding so recklessly out of the parking lot and hitting me going 35mph once he left his parking spot in the same parking lot, less than 200ft away, was that he was running late getting back to work from his lunchbreak. I was beyond outraged when I heard his reason for nearly turning me into a quadriplegic. They ran all kinds of tests on me and luckily the only thing that happened to me was a couple of misaligned teeth where he hit me on the right side of my jaw and face, and my face looked like Ricky’s when he got beat up by Mr. T in the first Rocky Movie. The hospital doctors couldn’t believe I wasn’t paralyzed from the neck down aftr falling 8-10 feet off the truck’s roof and landing on the back of my neck. They told me just how I felt when i found out I could move and not fear being completely paralyzed from the neck down, “Very very lucky and blessed.”
I was riding a steel Puegeot 1987 Tundra Express mountain bike, and the only part that suffered any damage to it more than cosmetic was a bent taco’d front wheel and consequently a few broken spokes. I still have the bike and still ride it some, and when I look at it it reminds me of how we can change someone’s life forever n so many terrible ways in the blink of an eye, and how conscious we need to be of our surroundings and what we’re doing and how important it is to remember that the mistakes we make can change a person’s life in the blink of an eye in the worst possible ways and that our lives can end n an instant if we’re reckless and not careful no matter who we are. I don’t really believe the driver that hit me that day was a bad guy, but like I said he made a bad decision that day, that he had probably made hundreds of times before in the past, but on that day I was riding my bicycle on the street and he didn’t pay good enough attention and was driving recklessly and he almost ended my life or at the very least almost paralyzed me from the neck down that day on January 1st, New Years Day, 2012

2TurnersNotEnough
2TurnersNotEnough
1 year ago

Nice to see this, but after my experience with a 3D printed titanium part that failed, I would wait for a couple of iterations while the early adopters figure out where more material needs to be added.

TiagoSilva
TiagoSilva
1 year ago

what part failed for you?

Chris
Chris
1 year ago
Reply to  TiagoSilva

The endcap on his submarine.

Robin
Robin
1 year ago
Reply to  Chris

More likely the CF cylinder connecting the Ti end caps. CF is well known for not liking repeated high pressure cycles. I’ll bet certain submersible owners are relearning what “delamination” means for CF and the lifespan of passengers.

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